Older bread more sour?
Hey folks,
I have only around a month or so of experience with sourdough baking, so forgive me if this is a foolish question, but I couldn't find it elsewhere on the boards. I have noticed that my sourdough loaves seem to get more sour as they age. If I eat some the day of baking or the day after, the sour taste tends to be a bit milder than I want. Around 2-4 days seems ideal. Then, around 5 days, it starts to get a little too sour for my tastes.
Am I crazy, or does this really happen? I thought at first that I was perhaps just getting sick of my loaves before I finished them, but I've repeated the process several times. My sourdough breads have been mainly moderately-dense rye breads, and while I understand that the flavor of dense ryes typically matures over a day or so, I haven't noticed any development beyond that period in non-sourdough loaves. Perhaps it's just apparent in sourdough?
-shakleford
This is a very common perception.
I have seen a claim that the bacteria that produce lactic acid survive baking temperatures. I do not know the data (if any) to back up this explanation. In any case, many sourdough breads - rye and wheat - do seem to increase in sourness over time.
I also find that breads made with multiple grain, seeds, etc. improve in the integration of their complex flavors over time. And I am talking about sourdoughs here too.
David
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/6843/sourdough-flavor#comment-34754
This was SourdoLady's reply
Well, I guess that doesn't say much for my searching skills...interesting though, and good to know that I'm not crazy (at least, not in this regard).